Rating: 
Summary: Highly entertaining and well written
Review: I came to this book with fairly low expectations, but I was bowled over by the information and the well-written style. This reads like a fictional thriller, yet every story is true. I think if you enjoy the Grand Canyon, you'll love this book!I visit the Grand Canyon several times a year to do rim-to-rim-to-rim hikes in successive days. That's 48 miles and 12,000 verticial feet elevation gain, so it's a brute. Being on the trail for 10 hours in one day lets me see hundreds of people on the Kaibab and Bright Angel Trails. It never ceases to amaze me to see the amount of unbelievably unprepared people trying to hike in this grandest of canyons. When you hike in the Grand Canyon, you cross six distinct climactic zones. You have to have a lot of physical and mental endurance to truly appreciate the wonders of the canyon. It can kill you if you don't, please heed the warnings here and on the signs in the canyon itself! So many people venture down on a lark in high heels. They suffer on the way back up. Don't let this happen to you. This book is simply superb, each chapter is divded up into various dangers, whether white-water rafting, hiking, and especially, the heat. If you're looking forward to a Grand Canyon adventure, you won't find a better book. I've read it twice because it's just riveting. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive but not depressing
Review: I had thought that a catalog of every death that has occurred in the National Park's history would make depressing reading but that is not the case. The authors have written each chapter around a specific disaster such as flash floods, airplane & helicopter crashes, snake bites etc and conclude each chapter with a couple of word-to-the-wise paragraphs on what we can learn from these incidents. They've also included lots of near-misses which makes for some happy endings. The authors freely admit they have been in some hairy situations themselves and that helps to temper any tendency to judge in hindsight. I was surprised to find I could read this straight through, although there are reference tables for the minutiae-minded.
Rating: 
Summary: Respect The Canyon
Review: I haven't been to the Canyon yet, but it's on my list of destinations to make in my lifetime. After reading "Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon" I'll know to be careful when I get there. I was unaware that the place is so hazardous--other than the obvious, that a fall off the edge is likely fatal. I read the book for the reason I assume the authors (and certainly the publisher) expect people to read it: morbid curiosity. And I suspected that was going to be the intellectual depth of their work. I was wrong. The book is not highbrow literature by any stretch, but there is more research invested than I expected. The writers, Michael Ghiglieri and Thomas Myers, both experienced canyoneers, exert maximum effort to dissect the statistics and draw conclusions about the causes of death and what steps individuals and/or regulatory agencies might do to prevent more. This level of detail may be a turnoff to some readers, but I found it interesting and useful. The authors can rest assured they've written an entertaining book that, through its popularity, might even help prevent an unnecessary death someday. ...
Rating:
Summary: Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon
Review: I just visited the Grand Canyon for the first time in April 2002 and it was an awesome sight. I am still wondering how so many accidents could happen. I knew before I arrived that I would have to be careful and smart. The people who have died evidently had no concept of the danger of such a beautiful place. This book is well written, informative, and also interesting. I am going to definitely take another trip with the same caution. I do respect nature whether it is beautiful or ugly.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping adventures
Review: I loved this book! I found it exciting, gripping, fascinating and a book I just couldn't put down. Even though I have a busy life with a full-time job, I read it cover to cover in just a few days! I also have to say I loved the authors' sly humorous comments, and funny way of expressing themselves. Their relaxed, rather conversational style of writing made it that much more enjoyable. Further, this book is very detailed, obviously shows careful research on the many tragedies, and is a great reference source. Although I'm an avid reader, I don't read a lot of true adventure type books, but this is definitely one of the best I've read! It has even inspired me to go on the Internet and learn more about the Grand Canyon, and some of the true adventures. I loved their comparison to Disneyland...so very true, that people assume since it's such a great tourist attraction, that nothing "bad" could ever happen! This book is not only a very exciting read, but as they state in the introduction, it's a good cautionary book on the very real dangers of being ill-prepared and/or overconfident in dealing with the Canyon! Hopefully people can read this and learn to use better sense whenever visiting the outdoors, anywhere. I recommend it highly!
Rating:
Summary: Death in Grand Canyon
Review: I picked this book up the day after I hiked South Kaibab, Tonto, Bright Angel (9 hours, 40 minutes)in late September, 2002. The Grand Canyon is truly amazing. The book chronicles all recorded deaths spanning hundreds of years and some of the stories read like pure fiction, you simply can't put it down. The chapter on freak accidents and venoumous creatures was a little disappointing but otherwise it was the most fascinating read of an actual place possible. It makes me want to go back and run the Colorado River (but not during monsoon season) to see some of the locations and rapids that have become both famous and notorious. I would definately recommend it for outdoor enthusiast and certainly for anyone planning a visit.
Rating:
Summary: A MUST read for anyone even thinking of hiking the canyon.
Review: I purchased this book at the Grand Canyon for reading material for my plane trip back home. When leaving the canyon, I saw a notice posted regarding a missing hiker, and now I know how the hiker could have mysteriously disappeared. Either foolishly or unprepared, he may be the next statistic listed. As stated in the title, if anyone plans on hiking the canyon, this is a MUST read. Each accident is detailed enough, so that anyone reading will know what they are to encounter on their own visit. I've been to the canyon many times, and with the beauty the reality of it all comes together. Morbidly, I've often thought about persons who have met their fate at the canyon, having heard from my parents (Arizona residents) whenever a "body" is found in the canyon or a suicide has been completed. It always makes the newspaper in Arizona, just like a birth announcement anywhere else. I will be donating my copy of this book to my library, as they are very interested in having this type of information available to its readers here in the midwest.
Rating:
Summary: Arrogance; ignorance; the "Disney" view of nature
Review: I read this book shortly after spending a few days hiking Grand Canyon; had I read it before, perhaps I would not have fought nausea and leg cramps for two days after my 12-mile hike down and up Bright Angel Trail. What is it about us human beings--how we feel that, in any contest with nature, we're fated to come out on top? This book explores the many ways in which Grand Canyon has proven our arrogance to be severely and fatally wrong. The book comprises a thoroughly-researched history of fatal mishaps, goof-ups, idiotic moves, miscalculations, honest mistakes and, yes--actions that proved to be fully intentional--documented over the past couple hundred years in the GC. It is fascinating, in the sense that we are all fascinated with such phenomena as highway accidents and accounts of disgruntled workers run amok. Solo hikers slipping into painful oblivion from unwise shortcuts; hot-weather visitors dying of heat exhaustion--as I could have--or of dehydration within shouting distance of the Colorado River. Boaters suffering terminal hypothermia. Rafts flying apart in the rapids; planes falling out of the air; suicides, murders, even the odd hiker who perishes while peeing off a cliff. The overwhelming question, to most of us, is Why? Why do something that is, to the sober mind, foolish, and court disaster in this huge, dangerous hole in the ground? There are many answers, and many hypotheses that might or might not be answers, and the book lays them out well. Unwise solo hiking. Inadequate equipment. Bravado. Lack of understanding. Bad planning; bad timing; bad luck. Underestimation of the foe. A false sense of safety because, hey, we're in a National Park, and surely a National Park can't be any more dangerous than Disney World... The book is well worth reading. It is alarming; it is often perversely humorous. However, it can, too, be somewhat plodding--I found myself losing interest at times, when the authors reverted to more technical discussions of the physical details of the canyon and the river. The Cfs--the flow, in cubic feet per second--of the rapids meant virtually nothing to me, and the make-up of specific rock formations and cliff walls, as well as certain climbing maneuvers, distracted me from the far more interesting human stories. I felt sometimes that the authors credited me with more savvy in these fields than I actually had--and this seemed a fault, because I would expect a book that deals with human ignorance to be aimed at those of us who are...well, ignorant. Which would be a healthy percentage of the population that might be tempted to hike the GC without adequate forethought. I would recommend this book highly to anyone who has some knowledge of Grand Canyon--a lot of it won't make sense unless you've actually seen the place, not just pictures. It helps, too, if you know something about canyon-type sports; then you can understand what it means to traverse or scramble a wall in a specific way, or why a boater would aim for a specific spot on the river and avoid another. But even if you possess no technical knowledge, and you skip over the aspects to which you can't relate, the human foibles that are, collectively, the true star of this book will probably hold your attention. And amaze you--because we're always amazed at the ability of others to screw up in situations where we know that WE would never, ever do something that stupid. No; none of US would hike Bright Angel trail on a 100-plus degree day without having fully adapted to the altitude and without bringing enough food for a good, hardy lunch... At least, I wouldn't do it twice...
Rating:
Summary: The World's Wonders Can Offer You Many Ways to Die
Review: I really liked the book.
I would have given it five stars if it
proposed ways to reduce the death count. People don't realize how dangerous the REAL world can be.
I have heard that people ask if there's a McDonald's at
the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Or vending machines. Or that you can just go down to the bottom and set up a camp site. [They don't know about getting permits.] Because this is a Federal park, every time there's a death must involve a huge amount of paperwork, which enabled the authors to describe the incidents in much greater detail than would usually be the case.
Rating:
Summary: death
Review: i really liked this book,cause it told me everything about the canyon that a traverler, really needs to know before he goes there,the canyon is the most beautifull sight to behold in all its glory,its really amazing, and majestic,but at the same time it can be dangerous,we must have a respect for the canyon, this book will not only tell you about the dangers from falling,and drowning,but will tell you the full history of the grand canyon,these are events that really took place,i hope that everyone who intends to visit the grand canyon,will read this book first,so they can enjoy all the grand canyon has to offer,and live to tell about it....
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